Penn State
As the horror of what happened at Penn State has unfolded, I have wondered how so many people could have known what was going on and kept silent. It is a frightening testimony to the power of others to control our lives. There seems to have been enormous pressure to protect the program at any cost. Children were damaged, and I suspect that the adults who kept quiet were damaged as well. Secrets like that will eat your soul.
The people we are with every day make such a difference in our lives. That difference can be for good, but it can also be for evil. More likely for us, it is just the difference in good and not as good.
We talk a lot about peer pressure in children and teens, but as adults we are also susceptible. We are influenced by those around us in how we talk, how we act, and especially in how we think. If you asked any of those involved in the cover-up at Penn State, I'm sure they would agree that abusing children is wrong. Yet they let it go on; no one spoke up.
Hopefully, none of us are under that kind of pressure. But there are probably much subtler influences that we choose to follow/not follow every day. Our speech, our choices of how we use our time, our willingness to stand up for what we believe in--all are tinged by the attitudes of those around us, by the things we read, by the things we watch.
We want our kids to choose wisely. We need to do the same.
"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." Psalm 1:1-2
The people we are with every day make such a difference in our lives. That difference can be for good, but it can also be for evil. More likely for us, it is just the difference in good and not as good.
We talk a lot about peer pressure in children and teens, but as adults we are also susceptible. We are influenced by those around us in how we talk, how we act, and especially in how we think. If you asked any of those involved in the cover-up at Penn State, I'm sure they would agree that abusing children is wrong. Yet they let it go on; no one spoke up.
Hopefully, none of us are under that kind of pressure. But there are probably much subtler influences that we choose to follow/not follow every day. Our speech, our choices of how we use our time, our willingness to stand up for what we believe in--all are tinged by the attitudes of those around us, by the things we read, by the things we watch.
We want our kids to choose wisely. We need to do the same.
"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." Psalm 1:1-2
Comments
Post a Comment